World’s oldest TATTOOS found – and they are 5,000 years old

World’s oldest TATTOOS found – and they are 5,000 years old

Vastly different to the designs of today, the tattoos are of a wild bull and a Barbary sheep on the upper-arm of a male mummy, and S-shaped motifs on the upper-arm and shoulder of a female.

The find dates tattoos containing imagery rather than geometric patterns to 1,000 years earlier than previously thought.

Researchers say the discovery “transforms” our understanding of how people lived during this period.

The tattoos were found on male and female mummies.

The 5,000-year-old male mummy, which is naturally preserved, has been one of the star displays at the British Museum, visited by millions each year, since its discovery in a cemetery over 100 years ago.

British Museum

MUMMY: The male remains are on display at the British Museum

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Previous research revealed that the man died a violent death between the ages of around 18 to 21, from a stab wound to his back.

But dark smudges on his arm, which appeared as faint markings under natural light, have now been examined.

And infrared photography has now revealed that the smudges were tattoos of two slightly overlapping horned animals well known in Predynastic Egyptian art.

Daniel Antoine, the British Museum's curator of physical anthropology, said the male mummy was “one of the most popular displays at the British Museum”.

British Museum

MARKINGS: Infrared photography has revealed the smudges are tattoos

British Museum

CREATIVE: The male mummy was found with inkings of a wild bull and sheep

“We are very confident that this is tattooing and not painted or decorated”

Museum curator

“His remains were preserved naturally perhaps because he was buried in the peak of summer or was in a shallow grave,” he added.

“We are very confident that this is tattooing and not painted or decorated. It would have been carried out with some type of needle made from bone or copper. These tattoos push back evidence of tattooing by 1,000 years.”

It is likely the man wore the designs as symbolic displays of his strength.

More abstract s-shaped motifs were also identified on the upper arm and shoulder of a female mummy, who “may have been a person of importance”.

British Museum

PRESERVED: The mummy's are 5,000 years old

British Museum

FOUND: They were discovered in a museum 100 years ago

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The designs are under the skin and the pigment is probably soot.

They could be crooked staves or throw-sticks, batons or clappers used in ritual dance.

The oldest known tattoos in the world were discovered on Ötzi the Iceman, dating from around the same time, but they are purely geometric.

Previously, archaeologists had thought only women wore tattoos in ancient history.

British Museum

HISTORY: The female mummy was found with S-shaped motifs

Both mummies were found in Gebelein in the southern part of Upper Egypt, close to Luxor.

They lived between 3351 and 3017 BC, not long before the region was unified by the first pharaoh in 3100 BC.